


A Rose By Any Other Name

by hardboiledbaby



Category: Alias Smith and Jones
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-08
Updated: 2010-09-08
Packaged: 2017-10-11 14:38:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/113511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hardboiledbaby/pseuds/hardboiledbaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was supposed to be a simple and straightforward job. Yeah, right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Rose By Any Other Name

It was supposed to be a simple and straightforward job, easy as falling off a log, according to Lom Travers. And in retrospect, Kid supposed it was probably about as straightforward a job as any they'd ever had. Which wasn't exactly saying much.

A Mrs. Amelia Roth and her two children were travelling to Carson City, where the widow Roth planned to take charge of her late husband's thriving mercantile business. From what Lom had gathered, rumors of bloodthirsty bandits holding up unsuspecting, law-abiding folk in the uncivilized frontier were rampant back East. Leastwise, they were rampant in the circles in which Mrs. Roth moved. When she telegraphed Sheriff Travers with her concerns, Lom thought he'd do a favor for his old friends, and he recommended Joshua Smith and Thaddeus Jones as armed escorts for the last leg of her journey, to protect the family from the hoards of thieving outlaws running all over the territory. The irony of this was not lost on Heyes and Kid.

Accompany a grieving widow and two youngsters for a few days. There was no specific threat, nor much in the way of money or valuables. Simple and straightforward, right?

They really should have known better.

First off, Amelia Roth was not exactly your typical widow. Although she still wore her mourning black, her manner lacked any of the grief or bereavement one might expect of a woman newly-bereft. The Roths had lived on opposite ends of the country for some time, and Kid got the impression that the long years of separation had taken an inevitable toll on the marriage. By the time Charles Roth had fallen ill and passed on, he and Amelia were barely more than polite acquaintances. She'd stayed in Boston for the sake of her children, but now she was free to do as she pleased. Apparently, it pleased her to take the reins of the family business firmly into her own two hands.

Kid and Heyes had had their doubts about an inexperienced female making a go of it in the rough and tumble Nevada mining town—that is, until they actually met Melly Roth. She was strong-willed, quick-witted, and brassy; almost aggressive, but with a cultured veneer that kept it from being overly off-putting. She seemed eager to take advantage of this new direction in her life. Taking advantage—yeah, she was mighty good at that.

Her children were also something of a surprise. Joseph and Molly were twins of seventeen, older than Lom had made them sound. They were both fair-skinned with dark blond hair, but while Joseph was quiet and bookish, Molly was... well, Molly was a filly of a different color. Melly's color, in fact. For all that the two ladies looked nothing alike, they were definitely cut from the same cloth.

Which was why it was no wonder such a simple task as delivering the Roths safely to Carson City turned so complicated. In hindsight, it was almost inevitable.

In all fairness, Kid knew it wasn't really his partner's fault that both ladies took such a shine to him. Heyes, with his gentlemanly ways and ready smile, was just the kind of dashing knight-errant that appealed to the fairer sex, especially the refined, citified ones. Melly was a fine figure of a woman, an attractive redhead still very much in her prime. Molly was a precocious seventeen going on twenty-seven, with a come-hither gleam in her eye that belied her otherwise patently innocent countenance. And they both decided that Heyes was prime husband material.

A ticklish situation, no doubt about it. Heyes couldn't reject the ladies' advances outright nor favor one over the other, not if they wanted to finish the job and get paid. So Heyes danced attendance on both, all the while carefully two-stepping around the matrimonial traps that were lying in wait. Kid stayed well out of it, keeping company with Joseph instead. He watched, amused and exasperated by turns.

Between the magic of Heyes' silver tongue and his fancy footwork, Melly and Molly each seemed to think Heyes was courting her alone, and that his attentions to the other was merely for civility's sake. Kid had to admit, his friend didn't do too badly, all things considered. For himself, he'd much rather have been juggling nitro—blindfolded.

They arrived in Carson City without a single desperado making an appearance, much to Melly's relief. Kid, however, wasn't quite so sanguine, as he knew the truly dangerous part of the job was still ahead. Heyes and Kid collected their wages from James Roth, Melly's brother-in-law, and then tried to leave town quickly, before anyone noticed they were gone.

That went as such things could only have gone, given their usual luck—badly, of course.

Heyes was in a pissy mood, and barely spoke all afternoon. They put as many miles between them and the Roths as they were able, until dusk fell and they made camp for the night. Even then, he walked around with an injured air that Kid did his best to ignore.

After supper, Heyes threw himself down on his bedroll and lay on his back with his hands under his head. Kid sat on a flat rock opposite and watched him through the smoke of the campfire.

"You could've helped, you know," Heyes said finally. Kid tried to hide his smile. _Still pissy._

"What did you expect me to do, rescue you from the clutches of the likes of those two? I may not have your brains, but I ain't that stupid." At Heyes' disgusted look, Kid laughed and added, "'Sides, how hard could two ladies hit?"

Heyes rubbed his cheek at the memory and said ruefully, "You'd be surprised. Even roses have thorns, Kid."

After a time, Kid asked, casual-like, "So, which of those roses did you really want, Heyes?"

"You're kidding, right?" Heyes sat up and looked at him in surprise. "You don't think I wanted—"

"Hell no, of course not." Well, perhaps he had, just a little. It crossed his mind some, when he'd seen his partner stroll arm in arm with Melly. Or when Heyes bent over Molly's hand and lifted it to his lips. Kid stoked the fire and hoped the flames camouflaged the glow he felt radiating from his face. "Just asking, is all. They were both mighty pretty. Wouldn't blame a man for looking."

Looking, and wanting, maybe. Wanting to settle down with a wife and a passel of kids. A home with a garden, or some such. It would only be what most men hankered for. Not a lifetime of running and drifting and hiding, with nothing to show for it in the end but a used-up gunslinger.

"You do your share of looking too, I reckon," Heyes pointed out, without rancor.

"I reckon," Kid agreed. They were neither of them saints in that regard. He admired womenfolk as much as the next man, and he'd done his share of admiring from a-near as well as from afar. But admiration wasn't love. No, not by a long shot.

Heyes got up and stretched, then ambled over and sat down on the ground next to Kid's feet. He tilted his head to look up at Kid. He smiled, the warm smile that he reserved for Kid alone.

"Hothouse flowers may be pretty to look at, but they don't do well without a lot of cosseting. Give me a wild Irish rose any day."

Kid felt a silly grin break out on his own face, and he turned away. Still, Heyes was right there, surely taking in both the grin and the flush that rose up even higher on his cheeks.

He decided that was fine by him.

"Heyes, did you just call me a flower?"

In response, Heyes grabbed Kid, tipping him off the rock and dropping them both down onto the ground. The kiss was sweet and long, full of promise for the days to come and the years ahead.

No, there would be no wives or children in their future. But they would settle down, one day. There would be a house. A garden, too—Kid would make sure of that. A garden filled with roses.


End file.
